SEFFNER, Florida (AP) -- A man was missing early Friday after a large sinkhole opened under the bedroom of a house near Tampa and his brother says the man screamed for help before he disappeared. The 36-year-old man's brother told rescue crews he heard a loud crash around 11 p.m. Thursday, then heard his brother screaming for help. "When he got there, there was no bedroom left," Hillsborough County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Jessica Damico said. "There was no furniture. All he saw was a piece of the mattress sticking up." The brother called 911 and frantically tried to help his brother. An arriving deputy pulled the brother from the still-collapsing house. There's been no contact with the man since then and neighbors on both sides of the Seffner home have been evacuated. SINKHOLE DATABASE: Look up your county PDF: Florida Sinkhole map provided by the Department of Environmental Protection and the Florida Geological Survey "We put engineering equipment into the sinkhole and didn't see anything compatible with life," Damico said. But Damico would not say that the man is presumed dead. Damico said that at the surface, she estimates the sinkhole is about 30 feet across but officials say the sinkhole spreads to about 100 feet across below the surface. "The entire house is on the sinkhole," Damico said. Engineers arrived at the scene later in the morning. From the outside, there were no cracks or visible signs of damage to the home. The front door was open, but taped off. Janell Wheeler told the Tampa Bay Times she was inside the house with four other adults, a child and two dogs when the sinkhole opened. "It sounded like a car hit my house," she said. It was dark. She remembered screams and one of her nephews rushing to rescue his brother, trapped in the debris. Wheeler's house was condemned. The rest of the family went to a hotel but she stayed behind with her dog, sleeping in her car. "I just want my nephew," she said through tears. - Sarasota News

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- A spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency in Uganda says more than 4,000 Congolese refugees crossed into Uganda Thursday night to escape renewed violence in eastern Congo.

Lucy Beck of UNHCR said Friday that the refugees were fleeing battles between armed factions of M23, a rebel group that opposes the government of Congolese President Joseph Kabila. Beck said the agency is bracing itself for a greater influx in coming weeks, although there were no reported arrivals Friday.

The refugees were stranded at the Bunagana border post and had refused to relocate to transit centers, apparently to keep monitoring for signs of peace, she said.

M23 is said to be undergoing a power struggle, with the military wing reportedly taking over authority previously held by a cleric named Jean- Marie Runiga.

Posted in World, State on Friday, March 1, 2013 10:23 am. Updated: 11:46 pm. | Tags: Sinkhole

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